Who Else Would Hold Your Hand?
by loveintheimpala
Summary: Everyone is scared of something, even the Winchesters. Unfortunately for Jenny, that thing is the dentist, and she has a toothache. It's up to Dean to drag his sister kicking and screaming to her appointment and calm her when it gets too much.


**Who Else Would Hold Your Hand?**

There weren't a lot of things that were able to scare Dean Winchester's little sister, and he was one of the few people who knew that best. At the young age of just eighteen he had seen her do things that most teenagers couldn't even dream of—she had decapitated vampires, shot down werewolves and wendigos, exorcised demons and fought even him down to the ground without a second thought—but that didn't mean that she was fearless.

There was one thing that had always been able to drain the colour right out of her face. There was one thing in the world that even the thought of was able to render her nothing more than a scared child clutching to his hand for dear life. There was just one thing that could scare Jennifer Winchester.

The dentist.

Even when she had been a child, too young to really understand what a dentist did, she had hated it. When the time came that their dad decided they were due a checkup she would do anything she could to get herself out of it. She had faked sick, made up an important math test, once she had turned seventeen she had gone far enough to get herself arrested. She had cried and begged and pleaded with those big green eyes of her and, in eleven years, she hadn't been to the dentist once.

But this time she really hadn't had a choice. She was in pain—agony, in fact. And Dean knew it.

Sure, she had tried to hide it from him. He had watched her pick at her food for over a week, refusing to eat anything that was even remotely crunchy. He had watched her try and chew everything on one side, wincing as though she had been stabbed whenever anything would pass to the left side of her mouth and come into contact with her back tooth. He had watched her try and hide the pain from him for a week, watched her take countless painkillers to numb the ache, and that had been long enough for him to finally put his foot down and tell her that she needed to see a dentist. Of course, she had told him that it was nothing, there was no pain and she could live with it. But he knew her teeth could be rotting and falling out and she would still tell him there was no pain, anything to avoid sitting in a chair and having a man poke at her gums.

His eyebrows rose as he watched her leave the bathroom and cross the waiting room towards where he sat. She was an eery white colour, he could see that her hands trembled by her sides even as she walked—she looked nothing but terrified.

"Please tell me that you haven't just been sick in there." he muttered, almost apprehensive, as she dropped down into the seat beside him.

Jenny shot him a look. "No, Dean. I haven't just been sick in there." she deadpanned, clearly not in the mood to joke around with him. And that's when he knew, she really was scared. There wasn't a lot that could hold back a sarcastic comment from her, only pain and fear, and he wasn't sure which was getting at her more.

He chuckled to himself and tossed the magazine he'd been flipping through back to the table in front of them. "I don't know what you're so worried about, you'll be fine." he said to her. He spoke casually, but she knew that he was trying to reassure her.

"I'll be fine?" she scoffed, dubious, and shook her head as though the comment was nothing but moronic. "That's like telling a dude on death row he's gonna live."

Dean rolled his eyes at that. "Don't be so dramatic."

"Dramatic?" she repeated incredulously. "I hardly think, when I'm sitting here waiting for satan to drill my teeth apart, that I'm being dramatic."

He couldn't even hold back his laughter at that statement. "Alright, for a start, I know for a fact that you don't really believe in satan. And, second, even if the devil _was_ real, I highly doubt he'd crawl out of hell just to get his hands on your teeth, Jen."

"Hey, you never know what the hell dad's pissed off over the years," she told him seriously. "It only takes one to want revenge."

"Hm, and, naturally, they'd come for you first, dressed as a dentist." he countered.

Jenny just glared at him. "I can't _believe_ you brought me here." she muttered darkly, as though she felt betrayed by him. Her brother was the one who was supposed to keep her out of harms way, he was supposed to be the one on her side, supposed to fight her battles alongside her, not drag her kicking and screaming into the one place she hated most in the world.

The sound of drilling filled the waiting room, coming from the dentist surgery on the other side of the wall they were both leaning against. Jenny gave a small sound of disgust and dread. He noticed her visibly shudder all through her body, subconsciously bouncing the heels of her converse to the floor and tapping her fingertips against each other. The sound of a man giving a pained grunt was enough to break her silence once again.

"It's a friggin' torture chamber for the mentally sadistic." she said bluntly.

Dean shook his head at her, a fond smile on his face. "It's a dentist, Jenny." he muttered, impassive. "Don't you wanna have a pretty white smile?" he added in a childish voice.

Another groan came from the man in the next room. "Yeah, 'cause the dude in there sure sounds like he's smiling." she grumbled as she slouched down further in her seat. "And, I'll remind you, while you're sitting there snickering at me like a dick, that it's your fault I'm in this position in the first place." she snapped.

He blinked, frowning. "'Scuse me? How exactly is it my fault you're a wimp?"

"Who the hell lets a five year old child sit and watch The Dentist?" he shook his head at her, as though he couldn't be held responsible for it. "The guy literally drills out people's mouths for fun, Dean. What kid wants to watch that?"

"It's just a movie," he retorted, defensive. "How was I supposed to know you'd take it so seriously?"

Jenny opened her mouth to argue with him but before she could get a word out the door to the waiting room opened. A woman in her fifties stepped inside and looked between the different people there. There was an old man, looking to be on his way to sleep, a woman reading a magazine, and a couple sitting at the other side of the room in silence, paying more attention to the bickering siblings across from them.

The woman looked down at the clipboard in her hand and cleared her throat. "Jennifer Winchester?"

She didn't move, at all. She didn't speak, didn't even appear to register that her name had been called. She just stared ahead, as though if she didn't answer to the name she wouldn't have to go with her.

Dean huffed a laugh and stood, raising his hand a little. "That'd be her." he said, nodding towards her. The woman gave a frown, as if to ask him what was wrong with her, but before he'd even seen it he crouched down in front of her. There was a point where all jokes had to be put aside, when he had to change from the joker older brother who liked to push her buttons to the one who had her back through anything. "Come on, Jenny," he coaxed. "I'm right here with you, okay? I promise. We'll get through this together."

Her eyes slowly travelled to his. For the first time since the word dentist had left Dean's mouth his voice was sincere. All kidding around and playing was gone, he was completely stone cold serious. Reluctantly, she nodded and stood up with him. He placed an arm around her shoulders and led the way to the door.

The woman gave a soft smile to them, well, mostly Dean, since all of Jenny's attention was fixed on the ground in front of her. She gave a knowing look to the eldest Winchester, as though to tell him that it was nothing she hadn't seen before. Hell, he could imagine. He wasn't particularly fond of the dentist himself, he was pretty sure no one was, but there was something about it that simply petrified his sister.

He entered the room first, almost having to pull her inside with him, and looked around slowly. There was a blue chair in the center of the room, something about it looked vaguely ominous. He didn't blame her for hating the place, he wouldn't like to be in her position, either. But, it was Jenny who was afraid, not him, and that meant that he had to be the one to reassure her. If she saw even the slightest trace of concern on his face she would be out of there so fast.

A man who looked to be in his mid sixties, chubby with white hair and glasses, turned in his chair as the door closed behind them. There was a warm smile on his face, somewhat reassuring, at least to Dean—Jenny still looked terrified.

"Jennifer, nice to meet you." he smiled and stood from his chair. "I'm Doctor Blake, I'll be treating you today." When she couldn't even bring herself to answer, his eyes drifted towards Dean curiously. "And, you are?"

"Oh, I'm Dean, her brother." he said simply, giving him a short nod.

"Ah," he nodded in understanding. "Well, Dean, you're free to wait outside if you want. We shouldn't be too long."

Jenny's head snapped up at that, her eyes wide in horror at the thought. "Can't he stay here?" she asked, a little more forceful than she had meant it to come out.

The doctor seemed to realise then that she really didn't want to be there, especially alone. Dean figured he had to know the look of the scared patients, and he sure as hell had to be able to see it in her. A look of sympathy washed across his face as he nodded. "Sure he can." he smiled. "How about you go ahead and lie down for me, Jennifer? I'm just going to take a look at your teeth for now, okay?"

Somehow, she managed a small nod and moved towards the chair hesitantly. Dean pulled one of the plastic chairs from the side of the room and took a seat at the left of her while the doctor sat at the right. If she hadn't looked sick before, she sure as hell did once her eyes fell to the tools lying on the small tray next to her. He took a loose hold of her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, as if to remind her that he was still right there with her.

"Alright, open your mouth." The doctor told her as he picked up his mirror. Dean felt her tense immediately as the cold metal came into contact with her mouth, she looked as though she wanted to burst into tears. After a little poking and prodding, some contemplative frowning and a couple of 'hm's and 'uh-huh's, he rested the tools back to the tray. "Well, everything looks alright from what I can see, your teeth are perfectly healthy, all clean. The only problem we have here is your back tooth on the left side, I'm sure it must be causing you a lot of pain." Dean shot her a look, because he couldn't believe she hadn't said anything about it. "Have you banged it at all recently?"

The two of them exchanged a look as if the same thing had hit them both at the same time. Just over a week ago they had been with their dad on a hunt, and she had been thrown face first into a wall by a spirit. She hadn't even connected the two things until then because, truthfully, being thrown into a wall by a ghost was something she just didn't give a second thought to.

"Uh, no," she shook her head. "Not—I mean—not that I can remember."

Dean also shook his head at the question, as if for effect, and gave the dentist a solemn look.

The dentist looked perplexed by their behaviour, he glanced between them and furrowed his brows. "Well, I'm afraid you're going to need a filling in your back tooth."

And, just like that, her face drained of colour again. "Can't I just leave it, see if it gets better on its own?" she asked quickly, almost panicked. "I mean, it's not even really that painful, I can—"

"Jenny." Dean cut her off, seeing that she was getting herself worked up. "Calm down. I'm right here, you'll be just fine."

The dentist gave a look, something a little apologetic, and reached for a needle. "I'm afraid you really have no choice, I can assure you though, it isn't that bad. You can trust me on that." But she didn't look even remotely convinced by his words. "Now, I'm going to inject your gum with some anaesthetic so you won't feel anything I'm doing, is that alright with you?"

Jenny took a deep breath and gripped Dean's hand a little harder, but managed to give a small, almost nonexistent, nod. He lifted the needle towards her mouth and brought the tip to the back of her gums. Dean watched closely, as if ready to pounce the second anything became too uncomfortable for her, subconsciously rubbing small circles on the back of her hand with his thumb as he did.

"Alright," he brought the now empty needle back and placed it down on the tray. "Now, that's gonna take a couple minutes to start working, you just let me know when it's all numb enough that you can't feel anything, okay?"

Dean noticed her breath hitch slightly as if she had made an attempt to answer him and had forgotten how to speak. She wasn't breathing, he could see that easily, and nothing was helping her. The man in front of her was only making her feel intimidated, no matter how reassuring he was trying to be.

"Can, uh," he cleared his throat and looked to the dentist. "Can we have a minute, please?"

He seemed to realise that she was well on her way to panicking, and the man sitting beside her was going to be the only one there capable of talking her down. His face softened a little as he looked between them and he gave a nod. "Of course, I'll be outside."

The second the door closed behind him Jenny's eyes found Dean's. They were wide and fearful, pleading with him to help her. "Dean, please," she almost begged him. "Please, I can't do this, I—"

"Hey, hey, come on," he soothed her, because he could tell she was about to break down. "You're gonna be alright, Jen, you're gonna be just fine."

She scoffed, incredulous. "And how the hell do you know that?"

"Because, I just know. I'm the oldest, remember? That means I know everything." he smirked. "Believe me, this is nothing that you can't handle, you wouldn't be here if you were in any danger. Just take a deep breath for me."

"Dean—" her words caught as her breath hitched. She sniffled, unable to breath properly, and her bottom lip quivered. There was a lump in her throat, and she just couldn't hold it back.

"You're fine, sis." He gave a small chuckle as he reached up and wiped away the single tear that rolled down her cheek. It was strange to see her like that—the girl who, not even six months ago, had taken a bullet to the stomach and hadn't even blinked—so scared. "Kid, if I could take the pain away from you I would, you know that, but it's not gonna go away on its own." he sighed with regret. "You can't spend the rest of your life in pain like that, you need to get this fixed, before it gets worse." He held her hand tighter and locked his eyes with hers. "Now, listen to me, Jenny, I'll be right here next to you the whole time. And, I swear to you, if you feel the slightest bit of pain, if he hurts you, just let me know and I'll put a bullet in both his kneecaps, okay?"

"That's not funny." she muttered.

Dean pushed up a small smile, because he could see how hard she was trying to hold back the tears. "Oh, come on, it's a little funny." he said lightly.

A knock on the door took their attention as it was pushed open and the doctor once again entered the room. "How is it feeling, Jennifer?" he asked her, his voice calm and understanding, patient. "Can you feel anything?"

Jenny looked from him to Dean and took a small breath, she told herself over and over to get a grip, that she was eighteen years old and she didn't need to be afraid, but that had been no use. But with Dean there, somehow she found the strength to give him a nod. "No," she spoke quietly, almost inaudible. "Nothing."

The doctor smiled, satisfied, and returned to the seat beside her. "Are you ready?"

She gave another nod and took a deep breath before she opened her mouth. It was the fact that, even though there was no real pain, she could still feel what was going on. The sound of drilling, the taste of her own blood, the smell of disinfectant, she hated it. At that point, she hated just about everything.

Dean, seeing that she was becoming seriously uncomfortable with what he was doing, cleared his throat. He thought of something to say to reassure her, anything, he just wanted to give her something else to focus on. "You wanna know something," he paused for a moment and thought through his words. Her eyes found his, even if she couldn't speak to him, he knew that she was listening. "When you were a kid, no older than six or seven, I had to bring you to the dentist. Dad was away as usual, you know, and you had this tooth, just would budge. I mean it was practically hanging out of your mouth for about a month before, and you kept telling me it'd fall out on its own..." he smiled a little as he thought back. "Anyway, this dentist, he offered to pull it out for you. It literally would've been out in a second. But, obviously, you freaked and told him no, but he just wouldn't take it, said there'd be no pain or anything, that it needed to go. And, I'm not kidding, we left the room for about two minutes, just to sign a form, I still don't know how you did it but when we came back you were just gone." He even found the dentist beside him pause his drilling for a moment to give a chuckle. "And, when I found you, four hours later, Jennifer, freaked out of my mind, my god, I could've killed you..."

_Eleven years earlier_

_Dean walked quickly down yet another nameless street, his breathing heavy as he turned a corner and looked around slowly. It had been four hours since he had seen his little sister and he was out of his head with panic. She had been left in his care, she had been his responsibility, and she was just gone. All he could think about were all the worst possible situations she could have found herself in. _

_What if something had happened to her? What if something had taken her, or hurt her...or worse?_

_All thoughts in his mind stopped dead as his eyes fell to the young blonde-haired girl ahead of him. Across the street was a deserted park, and on the swings sat Jenny. He sighed in relief and all but sprinted towards her, never once blinking, never looking before he crossed the street, he didn't dare look away. He skidded to his knees in front of her and took her face between his hands as he looked over her. _

_There was an innocent look on her face, something that told him she probably hadn't given a second thought to him being crazy with worry about her. "Where the hell have you been?" he asked her, the panic was gone and the anger was showing itself. "Do you have any idea how much you scared me running off like that?" _

_Her green eyes looked up to him, and he could see the fear in them, he knew that she was still scared. He instantly regretted the tone he'd used on her. Hell, he regretted even leaving the motel with her that morning. _

_Tears welled up in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Dean." she said quietly. "I got scared." _

_Dean sighed, shaking his head at her, and pulled her into a tight hug. There were tears in his own eyes at just the thought of something happening to her. "Don't ever do that again, okay?" He pulled back enough to look at her and she nodded at him, still clutching to his shirt. "Alright, no more dentists for you. Come on, let's get you back home, we'll watch a movie until Sammy comes back, yeah?" _

"_Dean," she didn't move from where she stood, just held out her fist to him. He crouched down again and frowned as she placed something into his waiting palm. "I told you it'd come out by itself." _

_He was confused for a moment, until she brought back her hand and there, in the center of his palm, was her tooth. _

_He blinked in disbelief, then chuckled, and then laughed. "I don't believe it." he muttered to himself. "C'mon," he picked her up with him so that she was at eye level with him. "We'll put it under your pillow, see if you get a dollar from the tooth fairy for it." _

_And then, for the first time that day, she grinned at him. And Dean couldn't help but grin back. _

"And that was the last time you ever went to the dentist, before today." he finished.

He gave a small smile as the dentist stopped his drilling. "You really must hate us," he said lightly, giving her a fond smile. "You can relax, the worst part is over. Now, I'm just gonna fill up this tooth and you'll be free to leave, and hopefully you'll never have to come back."

Jenny managed a weak smile at just the thought. She once again gave a deep breath and opened her mouth. No more than five minutes later, everything was done. She found herself rinsing out her mouth while thanking whoever was up there that she hadn't died in the chair.

Dean stood from his own seat, flexing his crushed hand, and gave her a smile as she stood up to face him.

The dentist handed her a couple of pieces of paper and came around to the other side of the chair. "To say you're scared of the dentist, I have to say, you did good today, Jennifer. Just keep taking care of your teeth the way you are and you shouldn't have anymore problems." he smiled and opened the door for them both to leave.

They both offered up a small smile and headed out of the room together into the waiting room. Neither spoke a word until they were outside on the street and the sun was once again shining down over them. "Well," Dean looked down to her. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Jenny scoffed. "I'm just glad it's over." she muttered, honestly.

"Over? You mean it's actually over?" he shook his head. "You mean I'm not gonna be your slave all night because you're in pain and have toothache and need some TLC?" he smirked. "That's good to know."

Jenny scoffed. "Bite me." she threw back at him as she turned away to head back to the motel.

Dean chuckled to himself and followed after her. He slung an arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. "Seriously, Jen, I'm proud of you today." he said genuinely. "And, uh, I'm sorry for, you know, psychologically scarring you for life. I get it must suck."

She shook her head, a small smile on her face. "Don't worry about it. As long you're there to hold my hand, I'll be fine."

"Hm." he nodded. "You were squeezing it pretty damn tight."

"Shut up." She laughed and shoved him in the chest playfully. "Seriously, thank you, there's no way I'd have gotten through that without you, Dean."

"Hey, don't worry about it." he said, as though it wasn't a big deal. "I mean, who else would hold your hand?"

Jenny huffed a laugh. "You know, you're right. You do owe me some TLC tonight, I expect you to be nice to me."

Dean just ruffled her hair, laughing to himself. "You know what, sis, I think I can probably stretch to that. But only tonight. Then I go right back to tormenting you."

"I call that a deal." she grinned up at him, nodding, and held up a fist.

"Sure," Dean bumped her fist with his. "Deal."

_Okay so this is the result of a horrific week of toothache resulting three trips to the dentist, ew! Hope you enjoyed and thank you for reading! :)_


End file.
